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Obama official tours Bright during Anderson visit
Villarreal gets behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge technology
ANDERSON, Ind. — An Obama administration official got a behind-the-scenes look at the cutting-edge technology that Bright Automotive wants to put on the road if it can get the federal assistance to build its plug-in hybrid van.
Teno Villarreal, special assistant for the Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers, spent the day in Anderson on Wednesday, finishing with a stop at the Flagship office of Bright.
Company officials told Villarreal they hoped to receive funding that would allow them to create as many as 6,000 jobs related to the Idea, Bright’s original design for a light, efficient and environmentally friendly utility van.
“Bright Automotive is all about jobs,” Lyle Shuey, vice president in charge of marketing, told Villarreal. “We’re positioned to do that as fast as we can, but we’ve been challenged with funding.”
Villarreal said he would be taking his observations back to Washington, where Bright has filed an application to secure federal loans of $450 million to begin mass production.
“It’s great technology, a great company,” Villarreal said after meeting with company officials. “There’s real excitement about the possibilities at Bright.”
Company CEO John Waters said after meeting with Villarreal that Bright would have a strategic announcement this year. “We feel like within six months we’ll have some pretty exciting announcements coming out,” he said.
Shuey discussed with Villarreal his years connected with the auto industry, starting with positions at local General Motors plants that began in the early 1990s. “We’re here for a reason,” he said, calling the area the Silicon Valley of electric vehicle technology, dating back to GM’s production of the EV-1 experimental electric car.
He touted the Idea as a vehicle that would be a homegrown, American product that would also create jobs for U.S. suppliers.
Before his visit to Bright, Villarreal got a taste of Anderson’s GM legacy when he toured local GM sites with a delegation of city economic development officials.
“We lost 25,000 employees and 8 million square feet of manufacturing space,” Economic Development Director Linda Dawson told Villarreal before the tour. “We are still left with all the property” after GM’s bankruptcy.
“It has created some problems for us,” she said. But with the growth of the Flagship Enterprise Park and the promise of Bright and other alternative-energy businesses, “We are well on our way for a tremendous recovery in Anderson.”
Villarreal said his visit marked an outreach designed to help Anderson understand how Washington might be able to help the community, and to help Washington understands the community’s needs.
“Our office really acts as an intermediary. We’re a red-tape cutter,” Villarreal said, between local communities hurt by the decline of the auto industry and federal agencies that can offer assistance.
Contact Dave Stafford: 648-4250, dave.stafford@heraldbulletin.com
The Bright Idea
Anderson-based Bright Automotive’s prototype vehicle, the Idea, is a plug-in hybrid utility van designed from the ground up as a fleet vehicle that can achieve gasoline efficiency of up to 100 miles per gallon.
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